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i X GREAT MAN FALLEN, f 



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PREACHED IN" THE 



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UT^ IJiii, 



APRIL 23, I8G0, 



OX THE DEATH OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



[^ 



REV. N. L. BRAKEMAN, POST CHAPLAIN. 



PREACHED AND PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



PRINTED AT THE NEW ORLEANS TIMES BOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 



1865. 



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m 



A GREAT MAN FALLEN. 



^ SERlVLOlNr 



PKKACHED IN THE 



METHODIST OHUHOH, BATO^ R01JI;E, LA., 

APRIL -^IJ, 1865, 

ON THE DEATH OF 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

PRESIDENT UF THE UNITED STATES. 
BY 

REV. ^. L. BRAKEMAN. POST CHAPLAIN. 



PREACHED AND PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



PRINTED AT THE NEW ORLEANS TLMES BOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 

1865. 



A 




XOTE TO THE READER 



The t'olluvving- discoui'se was prepared and preached witliout the 
remotest, idea of its publication. Immediately upon its delivery, 
however, a number of friends, through Lieutenant Colonel Rov, (1st 
Indiana Heavy Artillery,) commanding- Fort Williams, made verbal 
application for a manuscript cojjy, with a view to printing' it Subse- 
quently, a formal application was made in writing, renewing the 
reci^uest. And to these earnest solicitations of influential friends, 
whose judgment and wishes could nut be disregarded, and not to the 
vanity or presum])tion oi' its author, it owes its introduction to the 
public. 

Had the discourse been originally composed with a view to 
publication, its arrangement and style would have been materially 
diftereut ; but both must imw r(>iaain, tlie same in type as in extem- 
poraneous address. 

It was preached from copious " notes," not read from full manu- 
script, and, as nearly as may be, is here reproduced. Such resources 
of fact and illustration as were at hand (and they were meagre) 
were laid under tribut(\ Some citations of the President's own 
. words were from memoiy, and there may be verbal inaccuracy, but 
f the sentiment is correct. I have quoted them at considerable length, 
for they are doubly dear to us now that he is no more. 

Fraying that God may sanctify the great affliction to the nation's 
good, and make tlie .sermon a blessing to those who heard and all 
who may read it, it is reluctantly submitted to the press. 

N. L. B. 

Baton Rouge, La., Mo.y, 1865. 



SERMOISr. 



Know yc not, thai tlierc is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? 2 Samuel iii, 83. 

This is tlio l;uig-nage of David to his servants ami pcoph^, as he 
mourned with them for the sou of Ner, who, like the man our nation 
mom-ns, liad fallen by the hands of an assassin. In that instaiu-e, 
however, the murderer and liis victim were equals in position and 
character. Abuer was near kinsman to Saul, and Cliief Captain of 
his hosts. Joab was Chief Commander of David's forces. These 
nrilitary chieftains, at the head of contending' armies, had met " in 
the wilderness of Gibeon," and "there was a very sore battle that 
day," ami Abner and Israel were beaten before the arms of David and 
fled. Joab pursued them, and, as Abner was sore pressed, he turned 
and slew with his own hands, Asahel, the l)roi,her of Joab. 

Subsequently, Abner had a quarrel with one of SauFs sons, and 
deserting- that king, fled to David, treated with him and became his 
ally, and, departing in peace, immediately set about persuading all 
Israel to follow his example. This had transpired while Joab was 
gone on an expedition against the Edomites and other enemies. 
When Joab returned^ and learned of Abner's visit to David and league 
with him, and of his departure again, he professed to believe x\bner 
a spy, and sent messengers for him, and taking him aside as if for 
private iriendly counsel, assassinated him. We stop not to ask for 
Joab's motive in this deed ; whether it was revenge for his. brother's 
death, sincei'e t)clief in Abncr's treachery, or jealousy an^"l5nvy of a 
powerl'ul rival. 

Abner was murdered and David mourned : dwelling, doubtless, 
upon his noble lineage, liis high official position, his power and influ- 
ence in the State, his valor and ability as a chieftain, and all his 
excellent qualities, he said to the people : " Know ye not, tliat there is 
a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? " * 

A prince and a great man has fallen in our American Israel. 1 
shall not venture, on this occasion, any attempt at formal or popular 
encomium ui»on the lat(> President. That task is lefl to orators and 



* This inti eduction, for want of time, was omitted entire when the sermon was in-eached. 



statesmen. He needs, however, the eulogy of none. His private 
virtues and public life are above all praise. His selection bj- the 
American people for the first office in their gift, at a time the most 
trying and inauspicious the country ever saw ; his election, once and 
again, to that liigliest trust ; his diligent, patriotic and arduous 
labors therein ; the great success that crowned his efforts, as also, 
the deep, sincere, universal and inexpressible grief felt and mani- 
fested at his untimely and tragical death, tell most eloquently, and 
beyond the power of man, to add or detract what he was, what lie 
did, what the debt of gratitude the nation owes him, what its confi- 
dence in and affection for him, and what his name and memory must 
be in all time to come. 

In what follows your attention will be called to some illustrations 
of greatness in the character of him we mourn ; and, in conclusion, 
to a few practical remarks befitting, we hope, the theme and the 
occasion. 

I. His first claim to greatness is this : He belonged to a great 
country ; was a citizen of our royal republic, where all are princes, 
ur at least, lords of the laud, to the manor born. — A country great 
in its extent and resources, its progress and power, its men and its 
means, its army and navy, its ideas and institutions, its language, 
laws and government. He was, emphatically, " one of the people." 
The son of a poor farmer, brought up in a log cabin, he lived for a 
quarter of a century by the labor of his hands. He never enjoyed 
but one year's advantage even of the backwoods' schools of his day, 
and never attended any other. He eagerly sought knowledge, how- 
ever, borrowed the books he was too poor to buy, and made one of 
them (Ramsay's Life of Washington) his own, we are told, by three 
days' hard work in the corn field. Habitually diligent, he passed 
through a variety of avocations — farmer, Mississippi boatman, civil 
engineer, clerk, merchant, postmaster, captain in the army, lawyer, 
legislator, representative in Congress — Aiithful in all. This was no 
indication of instability, but each calling was a landmark, so to 
speak, in the road of progress towards the highest position and 
honor a nation could bestow. From 1858 his life is known to the 
world. 

With less of learning, reputation, wealth and emolument than 
any other chief magistrate of the nation, he has been more truly a 
representative of the people than any of the fifteen who have pre- 
ceded him, A great trial was at hand. The "irrepressible conflict" 



of ideas, waged for half a century, had culminated, and Avas about 
breaking- forth in civil war. The case of the Privileged Class vs. the 
People had been reached at last, and was to be tried in open court 
before the civilized w(.)rld. How appropriate that the case should be 
put upon its true merits, and a man of the people appear for the 
people, with the understanding that all concerned should abide the 
results. There was not only poetic propriety in this, but, in the 
adaptation of means to the end, a higher purpose was served. Mr. 
Lincoln coming from the people knew the people — in his own person 
he liad experienced their privations and wants, their joys and sorroAvs, 
hopes and fears, aspirations and disappointments — and they knew 
him, and wisely chose him their champion. Thus, knowing each 
other, as parties who had had a common origin, life, education and 
experience, and having a common destiny at stake, they trusted eacli 
other and the result is before the world ! During the four years, 
and more, consumed in reaching a decision of the case, never did he 
misunderstand or mislead the people, never did they distrust or fail 
him. And in this union and harmony between the People and their 
Advocate, is found the secret of their success — the source of tluit 
strength whereby and beneath which they have humbled in the dust the 
most gigantic power that ever arose to oppress the poor, and vindi- 
cated their right to and ability for "government of the people, /br the 
people, by the people." 

His successor in the chair of State, learned the alphabet after lie 
was ten 3'ears of age, and never attended school a day in his life. 
Surely that is a great country that takes beneath its ample protec- 
tion the humblest, unlettered child in the land, instils into its mind 
the love of wisdom, virtue, truth, liberty ; makes it a blessing to man- 
kind, and leads it up to honor and fame, such as compels the homage 
and admiration of the world. And they are great men who rise from 
obscurity to such a position. Lincoln was, in many respects, the 
model American — a great man of a great country. 

n. He was a great man because he was a good man. The good 
are always great. " He that is slow t.') anger is better than th(^ 
mighty ; and he that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that 
taketh a city." And what man, private or public, ever mani- 
fested more complete mastery over himself tha/ did Abraham Lin- 
coln ? 

Chieftain of the people during four of the most exciting, and 
eventful years of this or any nation — years of revolution, years of wild 



passion, mad ambition, and angry debate ; when the fires of party 
strife were raging with incandescent glow ; years of rebelliort and 
blood — who remembers an angry word from his tongue, or an acrimo- 
nious sentence from his pen ? " If any man offend not in word, the same 
is a perfect man," says inspiration. Was not he perfect then ? Of no 
other man could we more safely say : He never spoke a word we 
would have him recall, or wrote a line which, dying, he would wish 
to blot. 

A man now prominent before tlie country, and who knew him 
from boyhood, in a speech in Cincinnati, on the very day of his assas- 
sination, said of him : " I knew him at home, and elsewhere when 
he was a citizen, have known others who knew him well before and after 
lie was President, but neither they nor I ever saw him angry, or 
heard him use a vulgar word, or do anything that would have been 
offensive to the most fastidious." He brought not to the White 
House the culture of the college, or the fastidiousness of the court, 
but Ihe homel}'' virtues of a plain, honest man of the people — perfect 
simplicity of character, integrity of purpose and unaffected digni- 
ty. He .brought to the discharge of his duties an incomparable tem- 
per ; never elated by success, never depressed by disaster, some- 
times, perhaps, drawn aside from the path of stern duty by the 
tenderness of his nature, but never driven to undue severity by 
the lashes of acrimonious epithet, or the keener thrusts of sarcasm 
and ridicule ; though none suffered more in these respects than he. 
" How much we owe, as a nation, to this equable, and kindly tem- 
perament we shall never know." 

He was eminently unselfish. His answer to those who came to 
congratulate him on his re-election was thoroughly generous, chival- 
rous and patriotic. He gloried in patriotism not in party ; he did 
not so much rejoice in the support of his constituents as in their 
allegiance to the constitution and the country. '' I do not" said he, 
" wish to triumph over any man." " I have never willfully planted 
a thorn in any man's bosom." In the hour of defeat he said : " I am 
responsible" — and in the hour of triumph : "The glory is not mine." 
He closed his second inaugural " with malice towards none, with 
charity for all." No bribe could swerve, no sophistry deceive or 
adulation blind, no threat intimidate, no danger delay him, no power 
precipitate him, no enemy surprise him. He was calm in tlie wildest 
storm, cheerful in calamity, lirm where others faltered, hopeful whoi 
others despaired, wise in counsel, mature in judgment, deliberate in 



9 

action, steadfast and unjnelding' in liis convictions of right, patient 
nndor the severest provocations, nicrcifnl to his foes, and gfeatest of 
all, pure, amid the corrwptions of our Capital. 

Conservative witli his constituents, conciliatory towards liis op- 
ponents, he gave to botii an example in his devotion to the Union, in 
the toleration and liberality of his principles, and the purcness and 
integrity of his motives and actions. 

" The foundation upon which his character was built was his 
moral sense, coming' out in absolute truthfulness. This gave him 
marvelous moral uprightness, kept him unseduced by the temptations 
of his profession, untainted by the corruptions of politics, and un- 
blamable in public administrations. Every element of his being, even 
his passion and compassion, and every act of his life, Avas in most 
rigid submission to his moral sense and reason. The ruling, all- 
controlling characteristic of his mind was his accurate, massive, iron- 
armed reason. His mind acted with the precision of logic Ills 
ideas came out naturally in syllogisms. His whole character was 
rounded out into remarkable practical common sense. Thus his moral 
sense, his reason, and his common sense were the three fixed points 
through which the perfect circle of his character was drawn, the 
sacred trinity of his great manhood." * 

But he was more than moral and virtuous — he was a Christian. 
Member of no denomination, he was a representative of American 
Christianity as of American democracy. Deeply religious sentiments 
abound in almost all his public speeches and documents. In his 
farewell speech at Springtield, when, as President elect, he was 
starting on his way to Washington, he said : " To-day I leave you. 
I go to assume a task more difiicult than that which devolved upon 
General Washington. Unless the great God who assisted him shall be 
with me and aid me, I must fail. But if tiie same Omniscient mind and 
the same Almighty arm that directed and protected him, shall guide 
and support me, I shall not fail ; I shall succeed. Let us all pray that 
the God of our fathers may not forsake us now. To hian I commend 
you all — permit me to ask that, with equal sincerity and faith, you all 
will invoke His wisdom and guidance for me." 

Two days afterwards, I heard him in the Capitol of Indiana, at 
the close of a brief speech, repeat, in tremulous tones, the same rc([uest, 
and never was I more decpl}^ impressed with a man's earnestness and 



* Rev. C. U. Fowler — This i|uotation is added to the Sermon as preaclicd. 



10 

sincerity. He always referred to his escape from intended assas- 
sination in Baltimore with devout thankfulness to God. Arrived at 
Washington he entered upon his duties in the same felt and acknowl- 
edged dependence upon the " Omniscient mind and Almighty arm.'' 
In his celebrated " Sabbath Order," he enjoined " the orderly observ- 
ance of the Sabbath" upon both " the oflBcers and men in the military 
and naval services." He said : " The importance to man and beast of 
the pi-escribed weekly rest ; the sacred rights of Christian soldiers 
and sailors ; a becoming deference to the best sentiments of a Christian 
people, and a due regard for the Divine will, all demand that Sunday 
labor in the army and navy be reduced to the measure of strict 
necessity. The discipline and character of the national forces should 
not suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperiled by the profanation 
of the day and the name of the Most High." Adopting the words of 
Washington, in 1116, he said : " At this time of public distress, men 
may tind enough to do in the service of God and their country, with- 
out abandoning themselves to vice and immorality. The President 
hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and 
act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest and most 
sacred riglits and privileges of his country." 

To one who said to him, in the beginning of the war, " I hope, Mr. 
Lincoln, the Lord will be on our side in this great contest," the 
President replied : " I am not concerned whether the Lord is on 
our side or not ; for I know he is always on the right side. But 
God is my witness, that it has been my constant anxiety and praj'er 
that myself and this people should be on the Lord's side." 

In his thanksgiving proclamation for 1863, he said, referring to 
victories in the field and blessings at home and abroad : " No human 
council hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these 
great things for us ; they are the gifts of the Most High God, who 
while dealing with us in judgment for our sins hath remembered 
mercy. And it has seemed to me fitting and proper that they should 
be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged by the whole 
American people.'' 

It is stated that, on the day of the reception at Washington 
of Lee's capitulation, the Cabinet meeting was held an hour earlier 
than usual. Neither the President nor any member was able, for the 
time, to give utterance to his feelings. At the suggestion of Mr. 
Lincoln, all dropped on their knees, and offered, in silence and in tears, 



11 

their liumble unci Iieartfelt acknowledgments to the Alniiglity foi- 
the Iriuniph lie had granted to the National cause. 

And on the evening* of April 12tli, in the last public speech he 
over made, while he would not attempt to restrain the abounding joy 
of" the people, and which overllowed his own heart, for the capture of 
Richmond and Lee's army, yet, like a kind father, he gently directed 
the minds of the happy multitude up to the glorious Giver of "every 
good and perfect gil't." "Yet, in the midst of it all," said lie, "lie 
froni whom all blessings tk)w must not be forgotten." 

But hap|)ily we are not left to inference upon a matter of so much 
interest and importance. He made a solemn and earnest dedication of 
himself to God, and lias told us when and where. Conversing in 
the Wliite House with a minister upon the subject of his own re- 
ligions experience, the President said : " Whim I left my iiome in 
Illinois to take this chair of State, I requested my countrymen to 
pray for me ; but 1 was not then a Christian. When I had formally 
entered upon ni}' duties as President, and found the country really in 
danger, and myself .su.staining a burden that none before me had 
borne, I felt more than ever the need of wisdom and strength from 
God ; but I was not tlien a Christian. Here 1 lost my son — the 
severest trial of my life — ^I received it as a cluistening from God's 
hand, but still did not devote myself wholly to Him. But when 
I went to (Tettysburg,^nd looked upon the graves of our dead heroes, 
who had fallen in defence of their country, 1 then and there con- 
secrated myself to Christ ; and now T do love Him " 

With this incident before us, how significeut is the language of 
his brief speech at Gettysburg ! " We are met upon a great battle- 
field of this war. We have come to dedicate a portion of this held 
as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the 
Nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should 
do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot con- 
secrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and 
dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far beyond our power 
to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember 
what \ve say here ; but it can never forget what they did here. It 
is for us, the living, rather to he dedicated here to the unfinished 
work, which they who fought here have, thus far, so nobly advanced. 
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining 
before us ; that from these honored dead we take increa.sed devotion 
to that cause for which the}' gave the last full measure of devotion ; 



12 

that we here highly resolve tliat these dead shall not have died in 
vain ; that this nation, unler God, shall have a neic birth of freedom ; 
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, 
shall not perish from the earth." 

/llow significant, we repeat, in the light of his related Christian 
experience recorded above, is much of this language. The terras 
"dedicate," "consecrate," "hallow," "high resolve," " devote," "in- 
creased devotion," " last full measure of devotion," " new birth," are 
all to the Christian burdened with a meaning more than earth can give. 
How deeply his soul felt, and how clearly his mind saw the eternal 
fitness of those highest relations, and that most sacred of all conse- 
crations; with what chastened joy and tender confidence he gave its 
"last, full measure ;" with what new and hallowed emotions he mused, 
as he turned homeward, upon that " new birth of freedom" to his soul, 
that brought him into the liberty of God's dear children, we shall 
never know, but some can imagine. / 

We have seen his Christian experience; we give an incident of his 
Christian'^/i/'e. Some months after his visit to Gettysburg, Dr. Adams, 
of Philadelphia, "having an appointment to meet the President at an 
early hour, went fifteen or twenty minutes before the time. While 
waiting for the hour, he heard a voice in the next room, as if in grave 
conversation, and asked the servant : " Who is talking in the next 
room ?" " It is the President, sir." "Is anybody with him ?" " No, 
sir; he is reading the Bible." "Is that his habit so early in the 
morning?" "Yes, sir ; every morning he spends the first hour after 
rising in reading the Scriptures and praying." Here was evidence 
of true Christian life ; daily communion with God, and study of his 
Holy Word." 

One other illustration, looking more to his habitual state of mind 
than to his conversion or private Christian life. In his second in- 
augural, he says : " The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Wo un- 
to the world because of offences ! For it must needs be that 
oifenccs come ; but wo to that man by whom the offence cometh ! " 
If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of the ofiences 
which in the providence of God must needs come ; but which, having 
continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and 
that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the wo 
due to those by whom the offence come ; we discern therein no de- 
parture from those divine attributes which the believers in a living 
God always ascribe to Him. Fondly do we hope, fervently do we 



13 

pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet 
if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond- 
man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk ; 
and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by 
another drawn with the sword — as was said three thousand years 
ago — still it must be said: 'The judgments of the Lord are true 
and righteous altogether.' " 

These words and sentiments fall gratefully upon the ear and 
heart of every true patriot and Christian, and therein the nation 
seems to be listening again to the devout, solemn, paternal admoni- 
tions of the " Father of his Country " 

Such are some of the evidences that our lamented Chief Magistrate 
was, in the highest sense, a i^ond man. And this chapter in the his- 
tory of his greatness, will gather interest with passing time, and be 
studied with increasing profit and delight from generation to gene- 
ration. And when in after years, our own and the nations of the 
earth have learned properly to appreciate him, (for now they do not, 
they cannot,) then, and for all time, shall this attribute of his charac- 
ter appear in its true light — the brightest gem in the crown of glory, 
as it shall be the fullest measure of his reward in eternity. 

III. A man of the people, an honest politician, a Christian patriot 
and statesman, see the work he n-ronght. We have said the time was 
inauspicious in which he came to the chair of state. It was a time 
when, to use his own language, "all thoughts were anxiously directed 
to an impending civil Avar. All dreaded, all sought to avert it. 
While the inaugural address was being delivered, devoted altogether 
to saving the Union without Avar, insurgent agents Avere in the city 
seeking to destroy it without Avar — seeking to dissoh^e the Union and 
divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated Avar ; but 
one of them would male war rather than let the nation survive ; and 
the other would accejji war rather than let the nation perish. And 
the war came." 

And the first great question meeting President and people was : 
Shall we attempt to maintain the Union bij force ? It Avas decided in 
the affirmative. Wisely did our leader determine, that the Republic 
founded by war should not be abandoned Avithout an effort to defend 
and save it by war. And here Ave praise a moment to scan, so far 
as Ave maj', principles and motives. 

The President in his first inaugural used these Avords : " In j-our 
hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the 



14 

momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. 
You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. 
You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government ; 
while I have the most solemn one to ' preserve, protect, and defend it.' " 

And with what tender affection, what beauty and sublimity did he 
close that address : " I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but 
friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion maj^ have 
strained, it must not break our bonds of affection The mj^stic 
cords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave 
to every living heart and hearth-stone all over this broad land, will 
yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they 
will be, by the better angels of our nature." 

But against this warning and tender appeal ; against interest, 
reason and religion, the terrible issue was taken. 

And we hesitate not to say that, upon the part of the insurgents — 
we mean the few, the leaders, who must forever bear the responsi- 
bility of the unequaled crime — the war was founded in falsehood, 
arrogance, aggression and tyranny ; it was assumed without cause, 
without law or authority, but against these ; has been carried on 
without principle, and attended by consequences the most appalling. 
It was no more nor less than a high-handed attempt upon the integ- 
rity and life of a nation for the gratification and advantage of a few. 
We have no heart to dwell upon the ridn their madness has wrought. 

The acceptance of war by Pi'esident and people was purely an 
act of s^lf-defence — involving life, to be sure, and to a fearful ex- 
tent, but for the preservation of principles for which life had been 
gladly given in every land wliere Freedom had sought rest for her 
weary feet ; the same principles for which Brutus perished in Rome, 
Tell in Switzerland, Bruce in Scotland, Sydney in England, Emmett in 
Ireland, and for which Washington and the heroes of the Revolu- 
tion fought. Not for empire, or conquest, or subjugation ; not for 
wealth, or power, or pride ; not to slake animosities and wreak un- 
holy revenge ; not to crush man and despoil him of his rights ; not 
to take away from the common people a share in their own govern- 
ment ; not to bind heavy burdens upon the backs of the poor for the 
advantage of the rich ; not to seal up the fountains of education, 
and pervert the promises and prophecies of God's Holy Word ; not 
to break down the safeguards of societj' and destroy the supremacy 
of law — for none of these was accepted by our fallen Chieftain. 

Men there doubtless have been among us, who were moved by 



15 

wrong motives and for base purposes ; but whatever UDholj' passions 
may have burned in the bosom of others, they found no place in that 
g-enerous heart, now stilled forever. And here I will digress to say, 
that to all of us, even those whose hearts and homes arc darkest and 
most desolate, it is a consolation to reflect, in our loneliness and grief, 
that we have not left our homes, nor offered ourselves or our kindred, 
nor given our means, nor inflicted the evils of war upon others for 
the sake of hurting any human being, or demolishing oni; single 
right, personal, political, social, civil or religious, that justly belongs 
to any one. Our hearts have bled, and if, in return, \xc have made 
others bleed, it was only the doom they madly challenged. 

Shall the man who sets upon you, intent upon your life, marvel or 
complain if you deal him a blow that carries with it wounds or 
even death r" 

The first decision of the President saved the nation's life. A good 
begiiniing, surely. 

The second great act we shall notice was like unto the first — it 
secured future health to tlie life he had saved. Suppression of the slave 
trade in this country, and the abolishing of slavery from the District 
of Columbia, were " signs of the times," foreshadowing that great 
coming event — the edict of Freedom. How to eradicate slavery 
from our government had been a problem of gravest import at every 
period of our history ; it had employed the best wi.sdom and ability 
of the nation. The immortal Clay said concerning it : " If I could 
be instrumental in eradicating this deepest stain from the character 
of our country, I would not exchange the proud satisfaction for the 
honor of all the triumphs ever decreed to the most successful con- 
queror ! " But what Clay in vain aspired to do ; that which baffled 
the wisdom and skill of a Washington and a Webster ; that which the 
combined skill of all the statesmen the country ever produced could 
not do, Abraham Lincoln has done ! A race is free and a na- 
tion at /«.<;^ " redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled." And so of 
other and the rest of his public acts, had we time to dwell upon them ; 
but we must pass. 

And yet we are told he was not a statesman. Tried by a formal, 
exacting, diplomatic standard, perhaps he was not. But within the 
constitution, laws and political circumstances of the nation, he was a 
statesman. He distinctly apprehended the fundamental principles of 
the government at the head of which he was placed, and enunciated 
them, when occasion required, with a breadth and clearness which 



16 

gave tliem fresh validity. He kept his main object — the preserva- 
tion of the Union and the Constitution — distinctly in view, and 
steadily directed all his efforts to it. If he suffered himself to be 
guided by events, it was not because he lost sight of principles, 
much less because lie was drifting, aimless ; but because he deliber- 
ately recognized in events the manifestation of moral forces which he 
was bound to consider, and the behests of Providence which he was 
bouud to obej^ He neither lloatcd at random between the different 
sections of his party, nor did he abandon himself to the impulse of 
any one of them, (whether it were that of the extreme Abolitionists 
or that of the mere politician,) but he treated them all as elements of 
the Union party, which it was his task to hold together and conduct, 
as a combined army, to victory. 

It is almost an insult to his memory to stop and answer the charge 
of t^'ranny against the late President. It was eminently fitting that 
a vile assassin, brandishing his bloody knife, should repeat the motto 
of Virginia (just free from a tyrant's grasp) and apply it to his mur- 
dered victim. The man who could commit so foul a crime could pre- 
fer so false a charge ! lie was the very man to do it. But no one who 
knew the President, or could appreciate his position, or tlie times and 
circumstances in which he moved, or had any regard for honesty and 
truth, would or could entertain such a charge for a moment. Never 
was a man more deeply imbued with reverence for liberty and law, or 
more sincerely desirous of identifying his name with the preservation 
of our free institutions, than was Abraham Lincoln. He sanctioned, 
though he did not originate, the military arrests ; but he did so knowing 
that the power to do it was given him by the constitution, and that 
the circumstances had arisen in which it was necessary to exercise it 
for the salvation of the State. His justification of these acts is 
scrupulously and anxiously constitutional. To the remonstrants who 
told him that the safeguards of habeas corpus and trial by jury, " were 
secured substantially to the English people after years of protracted 
civil war, and were adopted into our constitution at the close of the 
Revolution ;" he replied : "Would not the demonstration be better 
if it could have been truly said, that these safeguards had been 
adopted and applied during the civil wars, and durmg the Revolu- 
tion, instead of a/tei' the one and at the close of the other ? I, too, 
am devotedly for them, after civil war, and before civil war, and at 
all times, 'except when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public 
safety may require their suspension.' " This last sentence is quoted 



]7 

from tlie Constitution, and makes provision for all the President did 
by martial law. 

ao much for the false accusation of " llagrant and inexcusable 
usurpation." Charged with invading the rights of the people, no man 
was ever more jealous for them, more zealously defended, or more 
successfully, or in so high a degree developed and secured them. 
Charged with tyranny and disregard of the Constitution, no man has 
so broken the chains of oppression, the arms of treason, or so inspired 
and strengthened the hopes and confidence of the Republic. And 
henceforth the name of Abraham Lincoln, like the flag beneath which 
he fell, and whose sacred folds enshrouded him in death, shall be a 
terror to all tyrants, Avhile ocean rolls or there glitters a star in the 
heavens above ! 

IV: x\nother indication of his greatness is seen in his remarkaUe 
power over the. people, and his use of that power for the people. 

Man's power and glory, originally, is seen in that he was made 
head over all beneath the sun. There remains but one higher mani- 
festation of earth by dignity and honor for hira, and that is, power over 
his kind. This is the climax of human greatness. It is given to but 
few men to enjoy. It was given to Alexander and Bonaparte, to 
Wellington and AVashington. Kings and military chieftr.ins may in- 
herit greatness, or seize it by fraud and violence. It is a very dif- 
ferent thing to gain it in a republic, and by the will of the people. 
Even there intrigue, policy and bribery may outstrip merit in the 
race. But to gain such distinction honorably, meritoriously, and to 
rise thus from the most common obscurity, this indeed, and at once, 
bespeaks man's power, and constitutes his highest earthly glory and 
destiny. 

Such was the path and goal of Lincoln's career. His popularity 
with the people during the first presidential campaign was unbounded; 
his re-election almost unanimous, the third Chief Magistrate of the nation 
who ever received that honor. He held discordant parties in his power, 
and by the magic of his influence moulded them into one. His war and 
emancipation policies (and especially the latterj at first found many 
opponents among his best friends. I remember an officer of influ- 
ence, who, when asked to subscribe resolutions sustaining the Presi- 
dent's policy, tore them into pieces in a rage, and bitterly denounced 
him itt^lead. But be afterwards repented, in sackcloth and ashes, 
became his admirer, voted for his re-election, and is to-daj'^ one of his 
sincerest mourners. And thus was it with multiplied thousands 

3 



18 

everywhere. This great man, as by a charm, " turned the hearts of 
the people as the rivers of water are turned." His name, breathed in 
universal prayer, became the watchword of the nation, the battle-cry 
of its army and navy ; his likeness, a cherished household treasure 
in the homes of the million, and his policy the talisman of the Ee- 
public. The eyes of the world were upon him, and the nations gazed 
in astonishment at his career and his train ! 

And yet this man, the foremost of the age, who had the hearts of 
the people, and wielded this mighty influence over them, used it all 
to help the people help themselves. " Of the people, when they rise 
in mass in behalf of the Union and the hberties of their country, truly 
may it be said, ' The gates of hell cannot prevail against them.' In 
all trying positions in which I shall be placed, and, doubtless, I shall 
be plficed in many such, my reliance will be placed upon you and 
the people of the United States ; and I wish you to remember, now 
and for ever, that it is your business and not mine ; that if the union 
of these States and the liberties of this people shall be lost, it is but 
little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great deal to 
the thirty millions of people who inhabit these United States, and to 
their posterity in all coming time. It is your business to rise up and 
preserve the Union and liberty for yourselves, and not for me. I 
desire they should be constitutionally performed. I, as already 
intimated, am but an accidental instrument, temporary, and to serve 
but for a limited time, and I appeal to you again to constantly bear 
in mind that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, 
not with office-seekers, but with yon, is the question, shall the Union 
and shall the liberties of this country be preserved to the latest 
generations ? " — LincoMs speech at Indianapolis, Fchruary, 1861. 

If not a providential design, it was certainly a practical result of 
his administration, to more fully demonstrate the principle of self- 
government. It was, emphaticallj', the administration of the people, 
by the people. The people, as never before, have governed them- 
selves — they have spoken and it has been done, they have com- 
manded and it has stood fast. When the President seemed hesita- 
ting, undecided, he was only awaiting the will of the people. No 
other chief magistrate ever so threw the people upon their own judg- 
ment and resources. And when he did so, and the people, in the 
midst of rebellion, were left to themselves, our enemies (monarchy 
in the Old World and aristocracy in the New) shouted for joy, and 
said : " The bubble is broken ; government hj mechanics and laborers is 



19 

at an end; the days of the great American Republic are numbered, 
its glory departed, and their vaunted Temple of Liberty, that stood 
in the calm, will be blown to ruins in the storm, burying- beneath its 
rubbish all who cling to its fortunes." But how have the people — 
the Republic — belied tlieir prophecies and their hopes. The man 
who, through four terrible years, had led the people, was, when 
the storm was loudest, cahnly, triumphantly returned to his important 
position for another term, and tlie people, looking to their leader but 
trusting in God, moved on, confident of success, exclaiming : 

•' 0. country! marvel of the earth I 

O, realm, to sudden greatness grown 1 
The age that gloried in thy birth — 
Shall it behold thee overthrown ? 
.Shall traitor's lay thy greatness low ? 
No ; land of hope and blessing, No 1 1 '' 

" But the people arc strong in the might of this one man ; let 
their chieftain fall, let their Moses be taken from tliem, and ruin, in- 
evitable, sjieedy, fearful, will follow, and they will die in the wilder- 
ness of war." Well, we shall see. 

The awful trial came. Their chieftaiu fell. Not in battle, not b}' 
accident, not by disease, but by ike hand of an assassin he is brutally 
murdered ! But when the enemy expected confusion, anarchy and 
every evil work, lo ! the people are calm and self-possessed, united 
and strong, and another of their number, a mechanic, too, one who 
never attended any school for a single day, immediately steps for- 
ward at their bidding, takes the reins of govermnent from the hand 
relaxed in death, and all moves on steadily, harmoniously and suc- 
cessfully as before — our securities are Hrm, our armies victorious, 
and our laws, institutions and government stand like mountains 
which cannot be moved ! Labor, as never before, is dignifieil aud 
made honorable. Lincoln the farmer, and Johnson the mechanic, have 
forever redeemed and glorified the common people, and government 
l)y laborers and artizans is fully and triumphantly vindicated before 
the nations of the earth. x\nd our Johnson, we believe, shall lead us 
iriumiAiiXYitly to the Promised Land of Peace! But to return. And 
now that this man of power has been taken from the people ; now 
that Ave have passed every fiery test ; now that the enemy has done 
his worst ; now that the storm has spent its rage, that morning 
breaks, and light appears, how, let me ask, stands our Liberty's 
grand fane ? Firm and unshaken : 



20 

•' Like some tall cliff that rears its awful form, 
Spreads from the vale and midway leaves the storm ; 
Though along its breast the rolling clouds are spread. 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 

Glorious temple ! founded in wisdom, defended b}- valor, conse- 
crated by years, cemented by the purest and best of patriot blood ; 
renowned, sublime, hallowed ; a blessing and forever blest ; may it 
stand, aye, it shall stand, with the fame of our martyred President, 
immortal and unimpaired, when the last traitor and tyrant shall have 
perished before the march of Freedom — 

•• Like a worm upon destruction's path ! " 

V. But we check these thoughts and ask : Is it so ? Is the Presi- 
dent dead ? Has this prince and great man in our Israel fallen ?. 
Is this great leader of the people no more ? We can only say alas ! 
alas 1 ! The nation is bereaved and the people mourn. We labor in 
vain to fully realize the mournful fact, or comprehend the magnitude 
of our loss. And yet, we realize enough, feel enough to bewilder 
tiie mind and render words a mockery. No tongue or pen will ever 
give, to foreign nations or posterity, a faithful portrait of the 
national emotion. Men wander purposeless, or sit dumb with 
amazement and grief. " The costliest blood is shed ; the clearest 
eye is dimmed; the strongest arm is nerveless; the Chief Magistrate 
is no more ! The mighty man cries bitterly ; the day is a day of 
wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and deso- 
lation, a day of darkness and gloominess and a day of clouds and 
thick darkness.'' All classes are clothed in sackcloth. The exile 
from tyranny and oppression in distant lands ; the homeless wander- 
ers of the South seeking refuge from conscription, cruelty and want; 
the poor among us, who, left without employment or bread, are fed 
by his bounty ; the freedmen who heard the words of the Emanci- 
pator and awoke to a new life ; the toiling millions, b}'' field and 
flood, who loved him as a brother ; the soldier and marine, the sailor 
and civilian, the mechanic, the merchant and the lawyer ; all true 
friends of America and of liberty every where ; all are afflicted and 
mourn — deeply, sincerely mourn. 

We have had other griefs ; our loved ones have died or fallen in 
battle, and we have felt their loss. Our comrades in arms and our 
commanders in the field, whom we loved and obeyed, we have seen 
cut down at a stroke, and with sad hearts we laid them coffinless to 



21 

their last rest. But our great captain survived, and while we heard 
his luanly voice amid and above the war ot" elemeuts, and knew that 
his strong and practiced hand Avas on the helm, piloting r.s through 
storm and night to a port of peace, Ave toiled and snflered on, and 
said all was Avell. 

But suddently, violently, 0, hoAV shamefully he has been stricken 
down, and we feel that never before have Ave known bereavement 
or sorroAv. The voice of lamentation and avo, and bitter weeping as 
never before, is heard everywhere throughout the land. Millions of 
hearts are sincerely exclaiming: '^ Would God I had died for thee! '^ 
It added greatly to the pain of David's grief for Abner to remember 
hoAv he died : " Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put in 
fitters" — thou was not overcome by one stronger than thou — thou 
didst not fall in equal combat or by thine equal — " as a man falleth 
before Avicked men, so tallest thou." In the hour of danger, or just 
as the ship of State was past the peril, " one of its passengers stole 
to the pilot's back, (to whom the nation oAA'ed its life) and murdered 
him in cold blood Family, city, arm}^, navy, nation, all smitten by 
one terrible bloAV. Clod of lieaven ! what a calamity, Avhat a crime ! 

The man Avho, to escape assassination four j-ears ago, Avas obliged 
to enter Washington disguised, noAV leaves the city in his coffin, a 
victim, at last, tu the fell conspiracy ! 

How deep, dark, painful the dispensation ! And yet v.e must 
believe it was needed, and submit Avithout (juestion or complaint. 
Perhaps, too much, Ave AA'ere glorying in our guide — putting in mortal 
man the confidence belonging alone to God. He may have been thus 
taken that the lessons of his life and God's word might be more 
deeply impressed upon the nation's heart. We may have needed the 
rev(;latiou it has given of the true character and that diabolicaj 
spirit that sought the nation's life. Perhaps he would have been too 
lenient with that spirit, and Avas removed that justice might be dealt 
with a sterner hand. We may have needed this unprecedented 
trial to teach us, as a nation, and others also, how much Ave could 
bear and yet surA'ive. We had felt one common thrill when first the 
tocsin of war was sounded ; we had felt bound by a common sympathy 
in the hour of despondency and gloom ; we had witnessed the tri. 
umph of patriotism over party at his re-election, and felt that Ave 
were strong : a mighty triumph, twice told, had just aAvakened and 
united the nation in a common joy ; did we need another tie to bind 
us in yet closer union ? We find it in this great overwhelming 



09 



national grief — never have we known a sympathy so unanimous, so 
powerful. Perhaps we were not sufficiently chastened and humbled 
as a people, and our sins required yet this rod of correction. But wc 
will not question. " He doeth all things well." We yield submission 
and only look up to God through our tears, and say : " Thy will be 
done I " 

" And if in our unworthiness, 
Thy sacrificial wine we press ; 
If from Thy ordeal's heated bars 
Our feet are sheared with crimson scars ; 
Thy will bo done. 

'• If, for the age to come, this hour 
Of trial hath vicarious power ; 
And, blest by Thee, our present pain 
Be Liberty's eternal gain ; 
Thy will be done." 

And while we thus submit, there is much to relieve the poignancy 
of our pain. Let us not, in our grief, forget to be grateful that God 
gave us such a man, and that he has spared him to us so long ; 
spared him till the fierce storm had spent its fury, and his own eyes 
saw the bow of promise span the sky, a pledge that storm should 
cease ; till the long dark night of war had worn away to the dawn 
of the day of peace ; spared him till he saw the proud Palmetto 
State, the first to cast off her allegiance to the government, humbled 
beneath the power she had madly spurned, and the citadel of seces- 
sion in desolation and ruins ; till his own feet stood triumphantly in 
the last stronghold of the enemy, and pressed the soil of the Old 
Dominion finally and forever free ; till he saw the insurgent chieftain 
and his great army captives, And the arch-traitor himself a fugitive 
from justice ; spared him to behold the day that saw the identical 
flag, which was the first to be humbled at the behests of treason, 
floating in triumph again over Sumter's shattered walls ; till the old 
flag waved victorious over some part of every revolted State ; 
spared him till his heart, weary with long toiling and waiting, might 
inly have said with one of old : " Now, Lord, lettest Thou thy ser- 
vant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation ! " 

I do not say it is so ; but, if his death be the last cowardly effort 
of rebellion, let traitors know that his fall has given their hopes a 
more fatal blow than they could have in any other nanner received. 
And this may be God's severe judgment upon them. Falling as he 



23 

has, in liis grave he will lead more men to victory — certain, speedy, 
decisive victory — than ever he could have done while living, or than 
can any chieftain we have left. He dies Samson-like, crushing' his 
enemies in his fall ! Nor will his death be lost upon us. 

The oak that breaks beneath the blast, 

Or falls before the woodman's strokes ; 
Spreads, by its fall, the ripened mast 

That holds in germ a thousand oaks. 

■• And in his fall, his death hath strown 
More than his fallen life survives ; 
For o'er the Nation it has sown 
Seeds for a thousand noble lives." 

From the death of Pompey wc date the extinction of the Roman 
Republic ; from that time the Senate lost its power, the common- 
wealth its liberty, and the people were never without a master. But 
the death of Lincoln marks a new, a more glorious era in the 
stability, power, purity and promise of American liberty. 

Thus does Divinity shape our ends ; thus make the wrath of man 
to praise Him ; thus smile from behind " a frowning providence ; 
thus from the bitter bud brings forth the fragrant flower ; from mys- 
tery, deep and dark, bring to light His wise designs and make all 
things seive the good. 

And thus, again, it is true that — 

" They never fall w ho die in a good cause. 

The block may soak their gore — their heads 
May sodden in the sun — their limbs 
Be strung on castle walls and city gates ; 

•' And though, in after years 

Others may share as dark a doom ; 
They but serve to augment the deep 

And swelling thoughts that overpower 
All others, and lead the world at last to 
Freedom." 

Onr departed President justly deserves every tribute we or pos- 
terity can pay him. The most popular Chief Magistrate of the 
Nation, he gloried in being an American citizen, and now America 
glories in claiming such a man. Possessed of high moral courage, 
he was generous, benevolent, humane. Highest in position, he never 
forgot the rock whence he was hewn, and the humblest had audience 



24 

with him. Alike tit home in the log hut or the White House, the 
Sabbath School or the Cabinet, in polite affectionate attentions to a 
poor child, or well-merited official hauteur to foreign nations. His 
private and public life were consistent. Such were his virtues as a 
citizen and his ability as a magistrate, that it is difficult to say, 
whether as a man or a President, he is most lamented. 

We hesitate not to place him beside the Father of his Country, 
and claim for him equal dignity, honor and glory. Like him he was 
returned to the Chair of State for a second term. Washington was 
the founder of a republic, Lincoln the emancipator of a race. Wash- 
ington who redeemed us from tyrants abroad, Lincoln who delivered 
us from traitors at home. Washington who gave us civil liberty, 
Lincoln who preserved the Union. Washington the Father of his 
Country, Lincoln the Savior of the Jfatiou. Washington liberated us, 
Jackson defended us, but Lincoln died for us. And we hail in him, 
at once, the hero, the patriot, and the martyr. With such a record, 
the future historian will dwell with delight upon his administration 
and his memory, finding little "to censure and much to commend. 
The future will do him justice — we cannot. But in making a present 
estimate of the man \ve should consider well the times in which he 
lived — " times of portent and prodigy, enough to perplex the good, 
confound the Avise, and daunt the brave " — times " when experience 
was an infant and calculation a contingency." And yet he was equal 
to the emergency — was eminently the man for the times. Many 
before him have done excellently, but he has excelled them all. If 
the departed know what transpires on earth, how must the heroes of 
the past, " spirits of the mighty dead," have rejoiced in the labor of 
his hands. And with what reverence and glad acclaim did they 
receive to their shades, where no jealousy or envy reigns, the spirit of 
one who in honor and labor was more abundant than they all. 

His labor done, he sleeps " by all his country's wishes blest." 
And while patriotism shall boast its Patrick Henry, and science and 
philosophy shall revere the memory of Franklin ; while " glory shall 
rekindle at the urn of Washington," and valor cherish the name of 
Jackson, and while statesmanship shall learn lessons at the tombs of 
Clay and of Webster, the American mind will instinotively, and with 
pride and satisfaction, turn to Abraham Lincoln as the true genius 
of her government and free institutions. " He incarnated the ideal 
Republic, and was the living personification of the divine idea of 
free government." 



25, 

Willi syuipathy and condolence for hit; sliicken fainih^, with 
prayer and hope for our bereaved and sorrowing- country ; with con- 
tideuce iu and a heart}^ support of his successor in oflice ; and wnth 
his own Avords sounding in our ears, let us arise and gird us for the 
remainder of our task. Hear, then, and let the nation hear, coming 
up from the place of his silent rest — for I am sure if he could speak 
from the grave he woyld repeat — these words : 

" With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in 
the right, as God shall give us to see the right, let us strive to finish 
the work we are iu ; to bind up the nation's wounds ; to care for him. 
who shall have borne the battle, and for his wndow and orphan ; to 
do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace 
among ourselves and with all nations." 

I close this part of the discourse with the following eititaph, fur- 
nished me by another : 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

god's noblest AVORK — AX UO.NKST M.\X 1 
TUK URATE, THE WISE, TUE GOOD. 

Ambitious without vanity. 

Discreet without fear. 

Conlident without rashness. 

In disaster culm, iu success moderate, in all things upright and Hue. 

The Hero ! the Patriot ! the Statesman ! 

The guiding star of the people! The friend of the oppresiried I 

The deliverer of the bondsmen. 

A victim to slavery. 

A martyr in the cause of Human Liberty 

lie died that his country might be tree. 

A grateful nation will honor his name, perpetuate his principles, and 

Remember his virtues. 

What arc the lessons of this great calamity ? 

The first is one of warning and instruction to young men. Upon 
the young men of to-day will depend the success or failure of all the 
great social, civil and moral interests of the next generation. This 
vast responsibility is theirs by a solemn destiny as inevitable as 
fate. Heirs apparent, they succeed to the thrones and estates of the 
future. Governed and learning now, they must teach and govern the 
race then. The press, the bar, and the pulpit ; science, connnerce, art, 
literature and religion will all be in their possession. They are to 
wield the mighty power, and fill the high places of honor and trust, 
and meet all the exigencies of the coming age. And among them, 



26 

too, (alas ! that we must say it,) are tbe predestined successors of 
all who now wield an immoral influence, and fill positions of dis- 
honor, shame and infamy. I repeat, if the perjured villains, the 
nameless assassins and murderers, the base and brutal leaders of 
their kind, and all the guilty horde of loathesome, terrible, demented 
and demonized humanity of to-day are to have successors, the young 
men of to-day must fill their places ! Solemn thought ! And yet the 
awful idea that should appal every heart falls powerless and ineffi- 
cient because of its liackneyed truism. We cannot stop here to 
enforce it. Time flies, and rapid years make haste to bear you on, 
and unseen hands busily prepare for your coronation in virtue or vice, 
in honor or infamy Your destiny depends mainly upon your own 
decision. Man is the maker of immortal fate, and do you hesitate 
in your choice of crowns ? 

These words will be soon forgotten. But never can you forget 
the names and characters representing these tvvo classes and desti- 
nies ; the murderer and his victim — the eternally infamous actor, 
the honored and immortal President. An impassable gulf divides 
them. Characters cannot stand in greater contrast. You know 
their early histoi'y, associations, principles, habits, character, life 
and end — lohich will you folUic ? 

2. It seems to me eminently proper on this occasion to press the 
claims of Christianity upon those occup^'ing high positions in social, 
civil and military life. I have given at considerable length the pious 
sentiments of the late President. I will add a few words from Wash- 
ington : " Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political 
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain 
would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to 
subvert these great pillars of human happiness — these firmest props 
of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with 
the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could 
not trace all their connection with private and public felicity. Let 
it be simply asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, 
for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are 
instruments of investigation in our courts of justice? And let us, 
with caution, indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained 
without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of 
refined education upon minds of peculiar structure, reason and expe- 
rience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in 
exclusion of religious principles." 



27 

Tims wc have the testimony of the two greatest men that ever 
lived — made so by their principles — to the influence and importance 
of religion. They tell us that the best citizen, the best soldier, the 
best man, and the best magistrate, is the true Christian. That though 
there are great and good men in all these relations who are not Chris- 
tians, true religion would make them greater and better ; that vice 
and immorality endanger the safety of the nation ; that morality and 
religion are its firmest pillars, its indispensable supports ; that he is 
the highest patriot who most heartily labors to infuse moral health 
into society and state ; while he who should labor to subvert religion 
would thereby sacrifice all claim to patriotism. And He whose 
throne is established in the heavens, and whose kingdom ruleth over 
all — wdio ordained civil government and threw around it the safe- 
guards of the Decalogue and the New Testament — has said that 
" righteousness exalteth a nation ; " that " sin is r. reproach to any 
people ; " that " Godliness is profitable unto all things ; " that " the 
nation that doeth wickedly," He will " utterly destroy." 

Who, then, can look indifferently upon the remarkable prevalence 
of Sabbath desecration, profanity, intemperance, licentiousness, fraud, 
violence and official corruption ? " For these things cometh the 
wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." For these things 
empires decay and nations die. Let us be careful, then, how by word 
or act we encourage or countenance them. Vice is a monster 
wherever found. Personally it ruins health, wastes fortune, blasts 
reputation, poisons domestic bliss, sacrifices life, and destroys the 
soul forever. From the individual, its deadly infection spreads 
through family, society, state, army and nation, ripening all for the 
retribution of offended heaven ! 

In all these relations religion is first fure — giving life, health and 
vigor — ^then peaceable and full of good fruits. Always and every- 
where it enjoins upon each and all whatsoever things are true, 
honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous or praiseworthy. 
It secures to each personal interests high as heaven, vast as the uni- 
verse, and lasting as eternity. It is good for the individual, it ex- 
alts the nation. It has the promise of the life that now is, and of that 
which is to come. Well may we say, " a volume could not trace all 
its connection with private and public felicity." And from beneath 
the shadow of this great grief, where all hearts feel the overpowering 
impress of solemnity and tenderness, I make my most earnest and 
urgent appeal to heads of families, to teachers and guardians of 



28 

American youth, to leaders in society, to commanders in the army 
and navy, to the judg'cs and rulers of our land — in behalf of religion ! 
Hear and heed its claims. They are transcendently, infinitely im- 
portant. " The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought 
to respect and cherish them." You love your country and Govern- 
ment, love God who gave them. You love and cherish thoughts of 
happiness and heaven, lead, then, the life which secures them to you 
forever. You mourn and love him who has died for the republic, 
will you not love Him who has died for the world ? You have re- 
sponded to the call of patriotism, will you not yield to the claims of 
heaven ? It was when, on a great battle-field of the war, Mr. Lincoln 
saw how others had given themselves to Liberty, that he consecrated 
himself to Religion. You would gladly die for your country, will 
you not live for God ? 

While you cherish the names and memories of Washington and 
Lincoln, remember their example and heed their solemn admonitions 
and instructions. Their words are but the combined utterances of 
philosophy and experience, of reason and revelation. Time has 
proved them true, and they gather importance and emphasis with 
growing years. I have thought, if our lamented President could 
have been conscious in his final hour, and permitted a last message 
*to the nation he had loved and served so well, and was leaving in 
such deep grief and forever, in the language of God's prophet of old 
(and to whom he has been aptly compared,) he would have said : 
" Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the 
Lord my God commanded me ; keep, therefore, and do them, for this 
is your wisdom, your understanding and your life in the sight of 
the nations which shall hear all these statutes and say : Surely this 
great nation is a wise and understanding people. Only take heed 
that thou forget not these things ; but teach them to thy sous and 
to thy sons' sons, that it may be well with thee and thy children 
after thee in the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee 
forever." 

And if Washington and Lincoln could be heard again ; if their 
voices, which once had audience from the civilized world, but are hushed 
in death, could now break the silence of the tomb and speak to our 
nation in its tears, what could they more than repeat their solemn 
admonitions and say : " Only take heed lest thou forget these things, 
but teach them to thy children and thy children's children, that it 
may be well with thee and with them forever ! " God help us all to 



29 

remember our personal responsibility ! That each one, however 
humble, is a part of the great nation, a part of the government ; 
that as are the parts, so will be the whole. As is the character of 
the masses — their intelligence, patriotism and moralit}- — so will be 
the character of the nation ; that as is the " sense of religious obli- 
gation," so will be the "security" for property, for reputation for 
life ; that as is the morality of the nation, so will be its perpetuity, 
power and glory ; and that " reason and experience both forbid us 
to expect that national moralit}' can be maintained in exclusion of 
religious principles." 

3. But, finally — for I have already detained you too long — we 
learn again, and how impressively, the uncertainty of human life 
and the instability of all earthly good. All know these tilings, but 
are prone to forget and need to be reminded of them. And what a 
remembrance is this ! In the strength of his manhood, when success 
and honor most gloriously crowned him, when his life was most a 
blessing and most blest, in the hour of relaxation and pleasure, sur- 
rounded by friends, the mightiest man is smitten down without a 
moment's warning. With what solemn force does it bi'ing home to 
our hearts the sacred admonitions: "Prepare to meet thy God!" 
" Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live 1 " " In such 
an hour as ye think not, the Sou of Man shall come, therefore be ye 
also ready ! " " This night thy soul shall be required of thee ! " 
" All flesh is as grass, and the glory thereof as the flower of the field ! " 
" We all do fade as a leaf ! " " Life, as a vapor, appeareth for a 
little time, and then vanisheth away." 

By what a feeble tenure we hold this feverish and troubled exist- 
ence ! And while it continues, how uncertain is all we pi'oudly call 
our own ! Youth, beauty, health, riches, power, friends we love, 
happiness, hope, and life itself, all may vanish in a moment, and 
leave but darkness, despair and death. How has this been Aerified 
to the nation in the last four years, and specially in this last and 
greatest affliction. How have time, and bereavement, and misfortune, 
with silent footsteps, been treading the wasting hearts of mourning 
millions. Let us not misinterpret these chastenings of our Father's 
hand, or fail to learn the lessons of the hour. Do j^ou ask again, why 
is it thus ? A voice in sovereign majesty replies : " Be still and 
know that I am God." " When' my judgments are abroad in the land, 
the people will learn righteousness." It is in love, then, and for 
our good, "He afilicts not willingly," and in merc3^ 



" Each pain, each ill of mortal birth, 
Is sent in pitying love ; 
To turn our thoughts away from earth, 
And speed their flight above. 

" And every pang that wrings the breast, 
And every joy that dies, 
Tells us to seek a purer rest 
And trust to holier ties." 

Let us, in our grief, betake us to the mercy seat — "here bring our 
wounded hearts, here tell our anguish — and learn that earth has 
no sorrow heaven cannot heal." A prominent man who was once 
present when Mr. Lincoln received the news of a great military 
disaster, says of him : "It was after our Eastern armies had met 
with repeated disaster and the nation was dejected. When the Pre- 
sident had read the dispatch, his face was white as snow ; it looked 
like a dead face. Every drop of blood in his body seemed gathering 
to his heart, and that heart, for once, seemed ready to sink, and he 
went away by himself. Afterwards, in speaking to me about it, 
when he was in a confidential mood, he said : ' If I could not then 
have knelt down in secret and cast my troubles upon God, they itwuld 
have killed mir He added : " I have seen more than one such occasion 
since I became President. " 0, these are i-easons which make sup- 
pliants of us all ; when the crushed and anguished heart instinctively 
turns to heaven and sincerely cries out : " God pity us ! God help 
us 1 " Such prayer is always heard and brings relief; then come 
sweet assurances to the burdened soul of a better world, where sin 
and death can never enter, where pain, and night, and anguish are 
unknown, where tears are wiped from all faces — 

" And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul." 

There, we believe, rests the spirit of our martyred President, and 
there may all meet him at last who mourn his loss. 



31 



A-PI^ENDIX. 



We have referred Con page 24) to Mr. Lincoln in Sabbath School. 
We give the following incident from the Western Christian Advocate : 

In 1860 he visited New York City, and made a speech before the 
Young Men's Republican Club at Cooper Institute, and during his 
stay in the city he visited the Five Points House of Industry. A 
teacher in the school thus narrates the event : 

" One Sunday morning I saw a tall, remarkable-looking man enter 
the room and take a seat among us. He listened with fixed attention 
to our exercises, and his countenance expressed such genuine inte- 
rest that I approached him and suggested that he might be willing 
to say something to the children. He accepted the invitation with 
evident pleasure ; and coming forward, began a simple address, 
which at once fascinated every little hearer and hushed the room 
into silence. His language was strikingly beautiful, and his tones 
musical with intensest feeling. The little faces around him would 
droop into sad conviction as he uttered sentences of warning, and 
would brighten into sunshine as he spoke cheerful words of promise. 
Once or twice he attempted to close his remai-ks, but the imperative 
shout of ' Go on ! 0, do go on ! ' would compel him to resume. As 
I looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, and 
marked his powerful head and determined features, now touched 
into softness by the impressions of the moment, I felt an irrepressible 
curiosity to learn .something more about him, and while he was 
quietly leaving the room I begged to know his name. He courteously 
replied, ' It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois.' " 

From the same source we give the following illustration of his 
attention to children : 

" Mr. Lincoln had the faculty of making everybody feel at home 
in his presence. He was always on the best of terms with children, 
as the little folks of Springfield, Illinois, where he lived so long, will 
testify. He loved them, and they loved him, and this is the true 
solution of his magnetic influence in social life. In the summer of 
1864, three little girls, the daughters of a Washington mechanic, 
neatly but poorly clad, passed into the Presidential mansion with the 
crowd on reception day. Their curiosity was on tip-toe, and their 



32 ^ ^ 

> <: 

sparkling eyes were glancing from object lo object, not designing to 
offer their little hands to the President, as their seniors did. Doubt- 
less they thought that the Chief Magistrate of the nation would not 
like to have little girls intruding themselves upon his presence on 
such an occasion ; but the President's sharp eye beheld them as they 
passed by him, and he called out : 

" ' Little girls, are you going to pass me without shaking hands ? ' 
"Then he bent forward and warmly shook the hand of each child, 
ail of whom seemed delighted with the interview, though not more 
so than everybody in the apartment ; for every beholder stood spell- 
bound by the touching scene, in which the beautiful simplicity and 
sincerity of Mr. Lincoln's character appeared." 

All remember his reference to foreign affairs in a single line, in 
his last message to Congress, and which was pronounced " decidedly 
cool." 



